On and Off Court, She Makes Grade

Erin Whiteside, a starter on the Cal State Fullerton women’s basketball team, bristled when one of the periodic NCAA reports on graduation rates for athletes came out last fall.

It again ranked Fullerton’s among the worst in the nation.

“I took it personally,” Whiteside said. “I know a lot of student-athletes at Fullerton who are doing a good job. And that old ‘dumb jock’ image is way outdated. It’s not easy to balance both academics and athletics, but I see more athletes doing good things than bad.”

Whiteside is definitely one of the success stories.

Whiteside’s four-year grade-point average is 3.91.

Whiteside, a communications major with a minor in business, is one of the leading candidates to be Fullerton’s Big West Conference female scholar-athlete of the year. She also will be nominated by the school for the academic All-American team.

A 6-foot-1 center, she has improved a lot this season as a basketball player. Whiteside is averaging 13.3 points, 8.5 rebounds and shooting 56% from the field. She is among the Big West’s leaders in all three categories.

Whiteside is scheduled to graduate this spring but will have a year of eligibility left. She was a redshirt as a freshman because of knee surgery.

“If I stay at Fullerton for grad school, I’ll play again next season,” Whiteside said. “But I’ve also applied to some longshot business schools like Harvard, Duke and some others, and I’ll just have to wait and see if I’m accepted to any of them.”

She recently was awarded a $2,000 scholarship for graduate studies by the Southern California Sports Broadcasting Assn.

Whiteside said she chose Fullerton because of the opportunity to play basketball on scholarship and the quality of the school’s communications program.

Whiteside has been a sports writer and editor for the Daily Titan student newspaper, and was an intern for Ski Magazine last summer. But she said she has become more intrigued by business journalism.

“Ultimately, my goal is to be an editor on a financial magazine,” she said. “I took a business course in finance last fall. We learned how to value stocks and bonds and studied the market, and I really enjoyed that.”

Whiteside’s success as a student and athlete is a blend of her father and mother’s backgrounds.

Jim Whiteside, Erin’s father, was a defensive end for Illinois in the late 1960s. He built a small chain of golf shops in Colorado, then became a regional sales manager for a golf club manufacturer. Pam Whiteside, her mother, is a former teacher who now works in an administrative position for a school district near their home in Littleton, Colo.

“My dad was always the one outside shooting baskets with me and my two sisters, and my mom was always the one who was doing the homework with us,” Whiteside said.

Whiteside said it would be difficult to give up her final season of college basketball.

“I’ve really enjoyed the camaraderie this season, and it would be hard for me to walk away from that,” Whiteside said. “As hard as it is sometimes to play and do all the things you feel you need to do academically, I think it’s worth it.”

LEAVE OF ABSENCE

Defender Ray Ramirez, one of the top players on the Titan men’s soccer team last season as a freshman, has left school this semester to train with the U.S. under-20 national team.

Ramirez will be on the squad that will play in the under-20 World Cup competition in Nigeria in early April.

Coach Al Mistri said he is optimistic that Ramirez will be back in school in the fall and compete for the Titans next season. “He has told me that’s what he’s planning to do,” Mistri said.

Two former Titan players, Brian Dunseth and Joey DiGiamarino, also dropped out to compete for the under-20 team with college eligibility left. Both signed development contracts with Major League Soccer afterward.

MAKING ADJUSTMENTS

Titan Coach Bob Hawking said he has been pleased with the way junior Ike Harmon’s all-around game has developed this season, despite the forward being slowed by ankle problems early.

“He’s getting a lot more attention defensively from other teams, and that makes it more difficult for him,” Hawking said. “He’s become a much more selfless player.

“Whenever a team doubles up on one player, the way they have with Ike, it makes them more vulnerable elsewhere. Ike understands that, and he’s been doing a good job of looking for the open man.”

Harmon had a season-high 21 points Saturday in the Titans’ one-point loss at Boise State. He is averaging 14.6 points and has scored in double figures in all 12 games he has played.

YOUTH MOVEMENT

Freshmen have seen considerable playing time for the men’s basketball team.

“All of them have had some good moments and all of them have had some trouble at times, but that’s part of playing their first year in Division I,” Hawking said.

Brandon Campbell has the most playing time of the four freshmen, averaging 16 minutes, and he leads the group in scoring with a 3.6 average. The other freshmen reserves are Josh Helbig, Josh Fischer and Danny Italiano. Two other freshmen, guard Matt Donahue and center Mitch Deve, are redshirts.

“I don’t predetermine where I expect the freshmen to be at this point from a development standpoint,” Hawking said. “We’re just trying to lay down a good foundation for them, and we want to be patient.”